How did we come up with our day month names?
Have you ever wondered from which origin our day of the week, month, or year names were formed? Ever since ancient times, these names have been in common use. This blog post offers an interesting insight into how these names are formulated and what they mean.
Many people like to ask this question as they feel that something that was used for a long time isn’t necessarily a good thing. For example, people may argue about the name “Monday” because it is associated with the word “grim” in many languages such as Latin. But on a positive note, it is also slang for being very good at something or being extremely grateful for something.
Does our Calendar of Days, Months and Years make sense?
Well, in short, yes! Although these names have meanings today, they were originally formulated with a purpose. In the dark ages, people needed some way to organize their days and remember them in order. Many of our modern-day names for months and days are derived from Germanic or Anglo-Saxon words that date back hundreds of years (See below for the origins of our names and their meanings).
The origin and meaning of our names for month/s and day/s
As previously mentioned, the origins of our names for months and days began in ancient times and have been used in different languages around the world since that time. Below are some interesting facts behind how these names came to be and what they mean.
- The origin of the name ‘Monday‘ is Germanic and comes from “Monat” (the German word for month) with a prefix meaning “day after”.
–The name ‘Tuesday‘ is also Anglo-Saxon in origin, but was derived from “Tiwesdæg” (the day of Tiw). The prefix “Ti-” meant ‘god’ and it was later changed to mean ‘day of’.”. The suffix “–esdaeg” referred to a day belonging to the week. In fact, all the names for days are prefixed with a letter indicating its place in the week.
- The origin of the name ‘Wednesday‘ is Anglo-Saxon with a prefix meaning ‘day after’ which became a separate word “Wodnesdæg” (The day of Woden). This was translated into the Latin “mercedonius” meaning “Woden’s day”.
–The origin of the name ‘Thursday‘ is also Germanic and comes from “Thunresdaeg” (Thor’s day).
- The origin of the name ‘Friday‘ is Anglo-Saxon and comes from “Frígeardæg” (Frige’s day). The prefix “frí” meant ‘lovely’ or ‘peaceful’ which later became Frigga.
–The origin of the name ‘Saturday‘ is also Anglo-Saxon in origin, but was derived from “Sætersdaeg” (Satyr’s day). The prefix “Sat-” meant ‘resting’. The suffix “-ersday” was translated into Latin as “iubilaeus”.
–Then, the last day-name ‘Sunday’ comes from Old English ‘Sunnandæg‘. The word is derived from a Germanic interpretation of the Latin dies solis, ‘sun’s day’. Germanic and Norse mythology personify the sun as a goddess named Sunna or Sól.
Why do most languages use the same names for days?
The reasons why we have the same names for days as all of our English-speaking neighbours is because, for one, these names were used in all the languages that you see in this blog post. And secondly, the time of year cycles has much more to do with it than what you’ll read below. For example, this is the reason why we have “January” and “February” in England and “February” and “March” over here in North America.
Our calendar does make sense and our day month names have some senseful origin.
The origin of the names for months and years were largely due to how the calendar was originally created. This system was created by the Romans and adopted by most of Europe as a way to organize and remember what had happened in the past.
- The origin of the name ‘January‘ is derived from “Ianuarius” (a name given by Roman emperor Caesar Augustus) which comes from Janus, a deity in Roman mythology who looks both ways to see what will happen in the future. He came to symbolize time itself. The prefix “ian” means ‘beginning’. As a side note, this month was originally the first month of the Roman civil and religious year.
- The name ‘February‘ is derived from “Februarius” which comes from Februa, a purification ceremony that was held on February 14. The prefix “feb” means ‘purify’ and it is ultimately derived from an Etruscan word “febru”. The name for this month was later changed to honor Emperor Caesar Augustus.
- The origin of the name ‘March‘ is derived from “Martius”. This came from Mars, the god of war who symbolized military strength and power. It also comes from “Martius” which means “of Mars”.
- The origin of the name ‘April‘ is derived from “Aprilis” which means ‘the month of April’. The prefix “apri” is the Latin word for ‘palm branch’ and it was originally a pagan symbol. The suffix “-is” means ‘month’.
- Likewise, ‘May‘ is derived from “Maius”, which has a meaning of ‘big or great’, as in “Mayan”. It comes from Mai, who was a deity in Roman mythology and he was also known as Jupiter’s spouse. He represented fertility as well as agriculture. The suffix “-us” means ‘month’.
- The origin of the name ‘June‘ is derived from “Junius” which comes from Juno, the wife of Jupiter. The prefix “juni” means ‘young’ and it indicates that this month is the third one in a year. The suffix “-us” means month’.
- The origin of the name ‘July‘ is derived from “Julius”, which comes from Julius Caesar with a prefix meaning ‘down or lower’, as in “July 4th”. The suffix “-us” means month’.
- In the same way, the name ‘August‘ is derived from “Augustus”, which was a title given to Caesar Augustus by his father Julius Caesar. The prefix “aug” means ‘great’. The suffix “-ust” means month’.
- The origin of the name ‘September‘ is derived from “Septem” which is from the Latin word for ‘seven’, as in “September 7th”. The suffix “-ber” meant month’.
- The origin of the name ‘October‘ is derived from “Octium” (Latin for ‘eight’). The suffix “-ber” meant month’.
- The origin of the name ‘November‘ is derived from “Novembur” which is from Latin “novem”, meaning ‘nine’. The suffix “-ber” means month’.
- Finally, the name ‘December‘ is derived from “Decemberim”. This is a combination of the Latin words “decem”, meaning ‘ten’, and mensis, which means ‘month’. The suffix “-ber” meant month’.
Conclusion
So there you have it. Our calendar does make sense and our day month names have some senseful origin. In fact, it’s a lot more sensible than most people think. However, that doesn’t mean that your calendar is incorrect or something like that. How you actually use this information is up to you and if it makes sense to you, that’s all that really matters (to me anyways).
In one of the upcoming blog posts, I’ll be covering why our names for seasons are different from all of our English-speaking neighbours and what these names were based on in the first place.
